The Clinical Trials Pulse

Week of Aug 17–23, 2026

A deterministic snapshot of the global clinical-trial landscape — every figure reproducible from the ClinicaLister knowledge graph.

All editions

This week at a glance

1,075
New trials registered
+7.4% vs prior week
389
Trials completed
40
Terminated / withdrawn / suspended
515
Completion-date slips
7
New FDA approvals
36 month-to-date
0
New EMA authorisations
0
New drug shortages
104 active
1,766
Publications added

New trials by phase

Registered in the past 7 days.

  • NA835
  • PHASE2102
  • PHASE175
  • PHASE343
  • PHASE433
  • EARLY_PHASE113

New trials by sponsor type

  • OTHER868
  • INDUSTRY149
  • OTHER_GOV44
  • NETWORK5
  • UNKNOWN4
  • NIH3
  • FED2

Status changes this week

Trials that moved to a new overall status.

  • COMPLETED389
  • RECRUITING331
  • ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING195
  • TERMINATED47
  • WITHDRAWN25
  • ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION23
  • SUSPENDED17
  • NOT_YET_RECRUITING11
  • NO_LONGER_AVAILABLE2

Why trials stopped

Terminations, withdrawals and suspensions — with the sponsor's stated reason.

  • NCT01065454 TERMINATED

    The sponsor terminated the study for strategic reasons. This decision was not due to safety concerns for participants receiving treatment at the time the study was terminated.

  • NCT01921686 SUSPENDED

    Study objectives were not met and lack of funding

  • NCT02246140 TERMINATED

    recruitment difficulties

  • NCT02250456 TERMINATED

    Terminated early due to insufficient recruitment

  • NCT02392572 TERMINATED

    \<75% participants

  • NCT02702310 SUSPENDED

    Treatment unavailable at facility

  • NCT03148106 TERMINATED

    COVID19 Pandemic

  • NCT03173950 TERMINATED

    Support was withdrawn from study resulting in early termination of study. Investigator had to close study due to no drug supply.

  • NCT03235531 TERMINATED

    PI left site without transferring study to another PI. Study expired and was not renewed.

  • NCT03236064 TERMINATED

    opening a new study with sponsor

  • NCT03404388 WITHDRAWN

    This study did not receive funding and was therefore withdrawn prior to enrollment of participants.

  • NCT03728335 SUSPENDED

    Accrual goal met

New FDA approvals

36 approvals month-to-date.

SponsorDrugApproved
REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS, INCUnknown2026-08-19
DR REDDYS LABS LTDCARBIDOPA, LEVODOPA2026-08-18
STERINOVA INCNALOXONE HYDROCHLORIDE2026-08-18
GLENMARK PHARMS LTDFLUTICASONE PROPIONATE2026-08-18
SEASONS BIOTECHNOLOGY (TAIZHOU) CO LTDUnknown2026-08-17
TEVA PHARMS USATOFACITINIB CITRATE2026-08-17
JUBILANT GENERICSTADALAFIL2026-08-17

New EMA authorisations

7.5% of the last year's EMA authorisations were conditional.

None authorised this period.

Drug shortage watch

0 new · 0 resolved · 104 currently active.

No data.

Hottest conditions

Most new trials this week.

  • obesity disorder21
  • chronic pain syndrome17
  • anxiety disorder16
  • type 2 diabetes mellitus15
  • cerebrovascular disorder15
  • breast cancer14
  • cancer12
  • depressive disorder11
  • diabetes mellitus10
  • non-small cell lung carcinoma10

Most active sponsors

Industry sponsors, new trials · trailing 28 days.

  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals14
  • Sichuan Baili Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.11
  • AstraZeneca11
  • Pfizer11
  • AbbVie10
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb8
  • Boehringer Ingelheim8
  • GlaxoSmithKline8
  • Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.7
  • Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC6

Molecules on the move

New links where the molecule is the studied intervention.

  • carboplatin20
  • bevacizumab17
  • carboxyamidotriazole16
  • aspirin15
  • warfarin14
  • rhein13
  • paclitaxel13
  • dexmedetomidine12
  • oblimersen11
  • dextromethorphan11

Device corner

FDA device clearance data is current; MAUDE adverse-event and recall feeds lag ~1-2 months.

0
New device clearances
123
Device recalls logged

The graph, in reference

Whole-corpus totals and rankings, recomputed every week.

New trial registrations — trailing 12 months

Monthly new registrations across ClinicalTrials.gov. Puts the weekly count in context.

5,1092,5550
25-0825-1025-1226-0226-0426-0626-07
599,818
US trials
11,580
EU trials
9,210
Molecules
36,006
Diseases (MONDO)
29,787
FDA drugs
2,731
EMA medicines
177,584
FDA devices
1,944,073
Verified drug–trial links
1,141,979
Publications

Trials by phase

  • NA60%
  • PHASE214%
  • PHASE110%
  • PHASE38%
  • PHASE46%
  • EARLY_PHASE11%

Trials by sponsor type

  • OTHER72%
  • INDUSTRY22%
  • OTHER_GOV3%
  • NIH2%
  • NETWORK1%
  • FED1%
  • UNKNOWN0%
  • INDIV0%
  • AMBIG0%

Trials by study type

  • INTERVENTIONAL76%
  • OBSERVATIONAL23%
  • EXPANDED_ACCESS0%
  • UNKNOWN0%

Trials by recruitment status

  • COMPLETED55%
  • UNKNOWN13%
  • RECRUITING13%
  • TERMINATED6%
  • NOT_YET_RECRUITING6%
  • ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING4%
  • WITHDRAWN3%
  • ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION1%
  • SUSPENDED0%
  • WITHHELD0%

Top therapeutic areas

By linked trials (MONDO rollup).

  • cancer or benign tumor121,033
  • nervous system disorder115,728
  • hereditary disease81,207
  • digestive system disorder73,444
  • cardiovascular disorder70,742
  • endocrine system disorder55,379
  • psychiatric disorder53,406
  • musculoskeletal system disorder52,388
  • immune system disorder50,576
  • inflammatory disease48,927
  • respiratory system disorder47,083
  • infectious disease46,906
  • reproductive system disorder39,259
  • metabolic disease34,879
  • hematologic disorder33,228

Trials by country of site

Among the 78,292 trials with a mapped site location — not the whole corpus.

  • United States32,927
  • China8,691
  • France7,569
  • Canada5,293
  • Turkey (Türkiye)4,908
  • Spain4,777
  • United Kingdom4,691
  • Germany4,548
  • Italy4,425
  • South Korea2,980
  • Australia2,816
  • Belgium2,535
  • Poland2,503
  • Netherlands2,421
  • Egypt2,321

Top sponsors

SponsorTrials
Cairo University4,812
Assiut University4,768
GlaxoSmithKline3,628
National Cancer Institute (NCI)3,553
Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris3,542
AstraZeneca3,475
Pfizer3,298
Mayo Clinic3,234
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center3,020
Novartis Pharmaceuticals2,691
National Taiwan University Hospital2,596
Massachusetts General Hospital2,561
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)2,439
Boehringer Ingelheim2,287
University of California, San Francisco2,153
Stanford University2,148
Riphah International University2,144
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC2,141
Hoffmann-La Roche2,082
Eli Lilly and Company2,076
Duke University2,045
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center1,945
Seoul National University Hospital1,889
Ain Shams University1,883
Hospices Civils de Lyon1,838

Most-studied conditions

ConditionTrials
breast cancer11,833
obesity disorder9,604
type 2 diabetes mellitus9,165
chronic pain syndrome8,838
cancer8,269
HIV infectious disease8,230
COVID-197,646
non-small cell lung carcinoma6,396
hypertensive disorder6,148
diabetes mellitus6,143
cerebrovascular disorder6,045
colorectal cancer6,039
coronary artery disorder5,962
prostate cancer5,864
depressive disorder5,855
cardiovascular disorder5,616
anxiety disorder4,936
heart failure4,913
injury4,501
Parkinson disease4,447
asthma4,430
cognitive disorder4,204
lung cancer4,069
benign essential hypertension3,893
neuralgia3,860

Most-studied molecules

MoleculeTrials
carboplatin7,213
paclitaxel5,588
isoniazid5,356
prednisolone5,300
cyclophosphamide5,129
ropivacaine4,882
dexamethasone4,817
bevacizumab4,643
cisplatin4,497
lidocaine3,646
aspirin3,419
gemcitabine3,200
bupivacaine3,139
pembrolizumab3,004
desoxycorticosterone acetate2,990
metformin2,985
sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,968
rituximab2,949
meprednisone2,850
dapagliflozin metformin hydrochloride2,788
sitagliptin metformin hydrochloride2,778
docetaxel2,766
linagliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,765
fluorouracil2,730
alogliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,707

The pipeline & the cliff

Standing competitive & regulatory landscape — who is developing what, at which stage, and which drugs are about to lose exclusivity.

Pipeline competitive matrix

Active trials by the most prolific industry sponsors, split by phase.

Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3
GlaxoSmithKline
1,094
861
895
AstraZeneca
1,020
552
807
Pfizer
1,175
709
658
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
508
837
736
Boehringer Ingelheim
1,071
321
399
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
701
550
740
Hoffmann-La Roche
492
480
569
Eli Lilly and Company
829
536
549

Patent cliff — loss of exclusivity

FDA drugs whose exclusivity expires soon (distinct substances).

42
< 6 months
41
6–12 months
101
12–24 months
Drug (losing exclusivity < 6mo)Expires
Sofosbuvir2026-08-28
Ledipasvir; Sofosbuvir2026-08-28
Citalopram Hydrobromide2026-09-16
Phentolamine Mesylate2026-09-25
Miglustat2026-09-28
Atogepant2026-09-28
Technetium Tc-99m Labeled Carbon2026-09-29
Patiromer Sorbitex Calcium2026-10-02
Risdiplam2026-10-03
Dexamethasone2026-10-03
Afamelanotide2026-10-08
Binimetinib2026-10-11
Acetaminophen; Ibuprofen Sodium2026-10-17
Pilocarpine Hydrochloride2026-10-17
Tenapanor Hydrochloride2026-10-17

Regulatory designations

FDA drugs carrying each designation.

16,495
Orphan drug
838
Fast track
29
Breakthrough
74
Pediatric exclusivity

Most-tested comparators

Molecules most often used as the comparator arm (the standard to beat).

  • alogliptin and metformin hydrochloride1,969
  • sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride1,962
  • sitagliptin metformin hydrochloride1,233
  • metformin961
  • ropivacaine880
  • prednisolone877
  • dapagliflozin metformin hydrochloride831
  • dexamethasone771

Methodology & sources

Every figure is a deterministic SQL aggregate over the ClinicaLister knowledge graph as of the report date. No figure is AI-generated or estimated; each is reproducible and traceable to its public source.

Sources: ClinicalTrials.gov · EU CTIS · openFDA (drugs, devices, shortages) · EMA · MONDO disease ontology · GSRS · GUDID · Europe PMC / PubMed

Every figure above is a deterministic aggregate over the ClinicaLister knowledge graph — and one click deep in the product, with a source behind each claim.

Machine-readable: download this edition as JSON above, or query the full archive programmatically via the public get_public_report_snapshots endpoint.